Systems and methods for transferring data communication in a rotating platform of a lidar system

ABSTRACT

A system and method are disclosed for providing a bi-directional data communication link within a LIDAR assembly that has a stationary portion attached to an autonomous vehicle and a second portion rotatably connected to the stationary portion. The second portion may include one or more emitting/receiving devices (e.g., lasers) for detecting objects surrounding the autonomous vehicle. A first printed circuit board including a first set of trace antennas. A second printed circuit board including a second set of trace antennas. The first printed circuit board may be configured to rotate 360-degrees in relation to the second printed circuit board so that the first set of trace antennas and the second set of trace antennas align to provide the bi-directional data link.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application Ser.No. 63/202,257 filed Jun. 3, 2021, the disclosure of which is herebyincorporated in its entirety by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR)systems including the transfer of data within a LIDAR system.

BACKGROUND

LIDAR systems may be used for various purposes. For example, a LIDARsystem may be incorporated with a vehicle (such as an autonomous orsemi-autonomous vehicle) and may be used to provide range determinationsfor the vehicle. That is, the vehicle may traverse an environment andmay use the LIDAR system to determine the relative distance of variousobjects in the environment relative to the vehicle. This may beaccomplished by emitting light from an emitter device of the LIDARsystem into the environment, and detecting return light from theenvironment (for example, after reflecting from an object in theenvironment) using a detector device of the LIDAR system. Based on anamount of time that elapses between the time at which the light isemitted and a time at which the return light is detected (for example, a“Time of Flight” of the light), it may be determined how far an objectis from the LIDAR system.

Additionally, the one or more emitter devices and one or more detectorsmay be housed in a rotating portion of the LIDAR system, such that lightmay be emitted and return light may be detected in various directionsaround the LIDAR system as the rotating portion of the LIDAR systemrotates relative to the fixed portion. This may allow the vehicle toascertain distance information for objects located within a full360-degree field of view of the vehicle, rather than only in onedirection that the one or more emitter devices and/or one or moredetector devices are pointing.

SUMMARY

A system and method are disclosed for providing a bi-directional datacommunication link within a LIDAR assembly that has a stationary portionattached to an autonomous vehicle and a second portion rotatablyconnected to the stationary portion. The second portion may include oneor more emitting/receiving devices (e.g., lasers) for detecting objectssurrounding the autonomous vehicle. A first printed circuit boardincluding a first set of trace antennas. A second printed circuit boardincluding a second set of trace antennas. The first printed circuitboard may be configured to rotate 360-degrees in relation to the secondprinted circuit board so that the first set of trace antennas and thesecond set of trace antennas align to provide the bi-directional datalink.

A shaft located at a central axis within the LIDAR assembly is connectedto the first printed circuit board. The shaft being configured to rotatethe first printed circuit board 360-degrees in relation to the secondprinted circuit board. The first printed circuit board and the secondprinted circuit board may also be located within an electrically sealedcavity that is configured to enclose one or more cavity currentsoriginating on the shaft from the first set of trace antennas and thesecond set of trace antennas. A first bearing may also be connected tothe shaft and a top side of the electrically sealed cavity and a secondbearing may be connected to the center shaft and a bottom side of theelectrically sealed cavity. The first bearing and the second bearing maybe configured to permit the center shaft and the first printed circuitboard to rotate while the electrically sealed cavity and the secondprinted circuit board remain stationary. It is contemplated, the firstset of trace antennas and the second set of trace antennas align toprovide a horizontally polarized quarter wave monopole array to providethe bi-directional data link. The first set of trace antennas and thesecond set of trace antennas may also be configured to align to providea peak-to-peak frequency that is less than 6 dB.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are incorporated herein and form a part of thespecification.

FIG. 1A depicts an illustrative LIDAR vehicle system.

FIG. 1B depicts a block diagram schematic of the illustrative LIDARvehicle system.

FIG. 2 depicts an isometric view of a LIDAR assembly.

FIG. 3 depicts a cross-section view of a LIDAR assembly.

FIG. 4 depicts an exemplary cross-section view illustration of a centerportion of LIDAR assembly.

FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary illustration of a first antenna array usedwithin the LIDAR assembly.

FIG. 6 depicts an exemplary illustration of a second antenna array usedwithin the LIDAR assembly.

FIG. 7 depicts an exemplary illustration of the first antenna arraysituated below the second antenna array.

FIG. 8 depicts an exemplary illustration of the first antenna array andthe second antenna array during operation.

FIG. 9 depicts an exemplary illustration of the first antenna array andthe second antenna array during operation.

FIG. 10 depicts an exemplary illustration of non-contacting groundconnections being formed using a plurality of resistive elements.

FIG. 11 depicts an exemplary block diagram of the first antenna arrayand the second antenna array.

FIG. 12 depicts an exemplary illustration of an optical bi-directionaloptical data link.

FIG. 13 depicts an exemplary block diagram of the optical bi-directionaloptical data link.

FIG. 14 depicts an exemplary exploded view of the LIDAR assembly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosedherein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodimentsare merely exemplary of the invention that may be embodied in variousand alternative forms. The figures are not necessarily to scale; somefeatures may be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particularcomponents. Therefore, specific structural and functional detailsdisclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as arepresentative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variouslyemploy the present invention.

Again, LIDAR systems generally include a rotating portion that housesemitter devices providing range determinations for a vehicle (e.g., Timeof Flight data). The range determination data is then transferred fromthe rotating portion to a fixed portion of the LIDAR system for use by avehicle's control system (e.g., ECU) or for transmission to an externalserver. It is contemplated large amounts of data downloaded aredownloaded from the rotating portion to the fixed portion. It is alsocontemplated that data or information (e.g., update files) may beuploaded from the fixed portion to the rotating portion. In addition todata transfer, the light emitting sensors operating within the rotatingportion of a LIDAR system typically require significant amounts ofelectrical power to operate. Lastly, LIDAR systems generally requirestability mechanisms that can withstand vehicle vibration during normaloperation.

As such, a novel LIDAR structure is disclosed providing concentricfeatures for each of a bearing structure, data uplink, data downlink,power transfer, driver motor, and azimuth detection. It is contemplatedthe LIDAR subsystems may be constructed to stack radially from a centeraxis as discussed below.

For example, FIG. 1A depicts a schematic of an illustrative LIDAR system101 used within a vehicle 102. In some embodiments, the LIDAR system 101may include at least one or more emitting devices 102, one or moredetector devices 103, and/or one or more computing systems 104. TheLIDAR system 101 may include one or more emitter-side optical elementsand/or one or more receiver-side optical elements. Additionally,external to the LIDAR system 101 may be an environment 108 that mayinclude one or more objects (for example object 107 a and/or object 107b). Hereinafter, reference may be made to elements such as “emittingdevice,” “detector device,” “circuit,” “controller,” and/or “object,”however such references may similarly apply to multiple of such elementsas well.

In some embodiments, an emitting device 102 may be a laser diode foremitting a light pulse (for example, emitted light 106). A detectordevice 103 may be a photodetector, such as an Avalanche Photodiode(APD), or more specifically an APD that may operate in Geiger Mode(however any other type of photodetector may be used as well). Thedetector device 103 may be used to detect return light 120 from theenvironment 108. The return light 120 may be based on the emitted light106. That is, the emitting device 102 may emit light into theenvironment 108, the light may reflect from an object in the environmentand may return to the LIDAR system 101 as return light 120. It should benoted that the terms “photodetector” and “detector device” may be usedinterchangeably.

The computing system 104 (which may be referred to as “signal processingelements,” “signal processing systems,” or the like) may be used toperform any of the operations associated with the LIDAR assembly orotherwise. For example, the computing system 104 may be used to performsignal processing on magnetic field data received by one or more sensors(for example, any of the sensors described with respect to FIGS. 2-4 and9-11 , as well as any other sensors described herein) on a LIDARassembly of the LIDAR system, as well as any other operations associatedwith the LIDAR system 101. Finally, an object 107 a and/or 107 b may beany object that may be found in the environment 108 of the LIDAR system101 (for example, object 107 a may be a vehicle and object 107 b may bea pedestrian, but any other number or type of objects may be present inthe environment 108 as well).

In some embodiments, any of the elements of the LIDAR system 101 (forexample, the one or more emitting devices 102, one or more detectordevices 103, and/or one or more computing systems 104, as well as anyother elements of the LIDAR system 101) may be included within a LIDARassembly 110 as described herein. The LIDAR assembly 110 may include atleast a base, a sensor body, and a motor. The motor may include astator, a rotor, and a shaft affixed to the rotor. The stator may beconfigured to drive the rotor in rotation. The motor may be affixed tothe base and sensor body such that the motor may be able to rotate thesensor body with respect to the base. The stator may also be affixed toa motor housing, which may be affixed to the base, while the shaft maybe affixed to the sensor body (however, in some cases, the sensor bodymay alternatively be affixed to the rotor instead of being directlyaffixed to the shaft).

FIG. 1B illustrates details of an exemplary computing system 130 inaccordance with one or more embodiments of this disclosure including,for example, computing system 104. The computing system 130 may includeat least one processor 132 that executes instructions that are stored inone or more memory devices (referred to as memory 134). The instructionscan be, for instance, instructions for implementing functionalitydescribed as being carried out by one or more modules and systemsdisclosed above or instructions for implementing one or more of themethods disclosed above. The processor(s) 132 can be embodied in, forexample, a CPU, multiple CPUs, a GPU, multiple GPUs, a TPU, multipleTPUs, a multi-core processor, a combination thereof, and the like. Insome embodiments, the processor(s) 132 can be arranged in a singleprocessing device. In other embodiments, the processor(s) 132 can bedistributed across two or more processing devices (e.g., multiple CPUs;multiple GPUs; a combination thereof; or the like).

A processor can be implemented as a combination of processing circuitryor computing processing units (such as CPUs, GPUs, or a combination ofboth). Therefore, for the sake of illustration, a processor can refer toa single-core processor; a single processor with software multithreadexecution capability; a multi-core processor; a multi-core processorwith software multithread execution capability; a multi-core processorwith hardware multithread technology; a parallel processing (orcomputing) platform; and parallel computing platforms with distributedshared memory. Additionally, or as another example, a processor canrefer to an integrated circuit (IC), an ASIC, a digital signal processor(DSP), an FPGA, a PLC, a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), adiscrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or anycombination thereof designed or otherwise configured (e.g.,manufactured) to perform the functions described herein.

The processor(s) 132 can access the memory 134 by means of acommunication architecture 136 (e.g., a system bus). The communicationarchitecture 136 may be suitable for the particular arrangement(localized or distributed) and type of the processor(s) 132. In someembodiments, the communication architecture 136 can include one or manybus architectures, such as a memory bus or a memory controller; aperipheral bus; an accelerated graphics port; a processor or local bus;a combination thereof, or the like. As an illustration, sucharchitectures can include an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, aMicro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, an Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, aVideo Electronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, an AcceleratedGraphics Port (AGP) bus, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus,a PCI-Express bus, a Personal Computer Memory Card InternationalAssociation (PCMCIA) bus, a Universal Serial Bus (USB), and/or the like.

Memory components or memory devices disclosed herein can be embodied ineither volatile memory or non-volatile memory or can include bothvolatile and non-volatile memory. In addition, the memory components ormemory devices can be removable or non-removable, and/or internal orexternal to a computing device or component. Examples of various typesof non-transitory storage media can include hard-disc drives, zipdrives, CD-ROMs, digital versatile disks (DVDs) or other opticalstorage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage orother magnetic storage devices, flash memory cards or other types ofmemory cards, cartridges, or any other non-transitory media suitable toretain the desired information and which can be accessed by a computingdevice.

As an illustration, non-volatile memory can include read-only memory(ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), electrically programmable ROM (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), or flash memory.Volatile memory can include random access memory (RAM), which acts asexternal cache memory. By way of illustration and not limitation, RAM isavailable in many forms such as synchronous RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM(DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM),enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), Synchlink DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct Rambus RAM(DRRAM). The disclosed memory devices or memories of the operational orcomputational environments described herein are intended to include oneor more of these and/or any other suitable types of memory. In additionto storing executable instructions, the memory 134 also can retain data.

Each computing system 130 also can include mass storage 138 that isaccessible by the processor(s) 130 by means of the communicationarchitecture 136. The mass storage 138 can include machine-accessibleinstructions (e.g., computer-readable instructions and/orcomputer-executable instructions). In some embodiments, themachine-accessible instructions may be encoded in the mass storage 138and can be arranged in components that can be built (e.g., linked andcompiled) and retained in computer-executable form in the mass storage138 or in one or more other machine-accessible non-transitory storagemedia included in the computing system 130. Such components can embody,or can constitute, one or many of the various modules disclosed herein.Such modules are illustrated as modules 144. In some instances, themodules may also be included within the memory 134 as well.

Execution of the modules 144, individually or in combination, by atleast one of the processor(s) 132, can cause the computing system 130 toperform any of the operations. Each computing system 130 also caninclude one or more input/output interface devices 140 (referred to asI/O interface 140) that can permit or otherwise facilitate externaldevices to communicate with the computing system 130. For instance, theI/O interface 140 may be used to receive and send data and/orinstructions from and to an external computing device.

The computing system 130 also includes one or more network interfacedevices 142 (referred to as network interface(s) 142) that can permit orotherwise facilitate functionally coupling the computing system 130 withone or more external devices. Functionally coupling the computing system130 to an external device can include establishing a wireline connectionor a wireless connection between the computing system 130 and theexternal device. The network interface devices 142 can include one ormany antennas and a communication processing device that can permitwireless communication between the computing system 130 and anotherexternal device. For example, within a vehicle, between a vehicle and asmart infrastructure system, between multiple vehicles, between twosmart infrastructure systems, etc. Such a communication processingdevice can process data according to defined protocols of one or severalradio technologies. The radio technologies can include, for example, 3G,Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced, 5G, IEEE 800.11, IEEE 800.16,Bluetooth, ZigBee, near-field communication (NFC), and the like. Thecommunication processing device can also process data according to otherprotocols as well, such as communication area network (CAN),vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V)communications, and the like. The network interface(s) 512 may also beused to facilitate peer-to-peer ad-hoc network connections as describedherein.

It should further be appreciated that the disclosed LiDAR system (e.g.,LIDAR system 1010) may include alternate and/or additional hardware,software, or firmware components beyond those described or depictedwithout departing from the scope of the disclosure. More particularly,it should be appreciated that software, firmware, or hardware componentsdepicted as forming part of the computing device 600 are merelyillustrative and that some components may not be present or additionalcomponents may be provided in various embodiments.

FIG. 2 depicts an isometric view of a LIDAR assembly 200 that may be thesame as LIDAR assembly 110 described with respect to FIG. 1 , as well asany other LIDAR assembly described herein. In some embodiments, theLIDAR assembly 200 may include at least a first portion 204 and a secondportion 202. The first portion 204 may include a first housing 216 andthe second portion 202 may include a second housing 214. The firsthousing 216 and second housing 214 may provide protection for anyelements included within the first portion 204 and/or the second portion202, such as protection from weather conditions, contaminants in theenvironment, etc. The first portion 204 may be a stator of the LIDARassembly 200. That is, the first portion 204 may be a portion of theLIDAR assembly 200 that may remain fixed relative to other portions ofthe LIDAR assembly 200. Likewise, the second portion 202 may be a rotorof the LIDAR assembly 200. That is, the second portion 202 may be aportion of the LIDAR assembly 200 that may rotate relative to otherportions of the LIDAR assembly 200, such as the first portion 204 (forexample, the stator).

In some embodiments, the second portion 202 as including one or moreprinted circuit boards (for example, printed circuit board 203, as wellas any other printed circuit boards not depicted in the figure). Theprinted circuit board 203 may represent the sensor body (or a portion ofthe sensor body) of the LIDAR assembly as described above. That is, thesensor body of the LIDAR assembly may be affixed to the second portion202 of the LIDAR assembly 200 and may rotate along with the secondportion 202 relative to the first portion 204. It is contemplated, theprinted circuit board 203 may include any number and/or type ofelectronic components used by the LIDAR assembly 200. For example, theprinted circuit board 203 may include any of the emitting devices 102,one or more detector devices 103, and/or one or more computing systems104 as described with respect to FIG. 1 .

The printed circuit board 203 may also include one or more sensors. Insome embodiments, the one or more sensors may include one or moremagnetic field sensors 212 that may be used to measure the magneticfields produced by various magnets (not depicted in the figure) affixedto the first portion 204 of the LIDAR assembly 200. For example, the oneor more magnetic field sensors may be Hall sensors. The one or moremagnetic field sensors 212 may be arranged in a circular fashion aroundthe circumference of the printed circuit board 203. Any of the elementsdescribed as being included in the example printed circuit board 203illustrated in the figure may be included in any number of other printedcircuit boards not depicted in the figure. The one or more sensors mayalso include any other types of sensors, such as one or more temperaturesensors.

FIG. 3 depicts an exemplary cross-section view of a LIDAR assembly 300.The LIDAR assembly 300 may be the same as LIDAR assembly 200. That is,FIG. 3 may depict the same (or a similar) LIDAR assembly 300 as theLIDAR assembly 200 depicted in FIG. 2 , but may present a cross-sectionview to provide an illustration of elements that may be included withinthe LIDAR assembly 300. For example, LIDAR assembly 300 may include afirst portion 304 and a second portion 302. The first portion 304 mayinclude a first housing 316, and the second portion 302 may include asecond housing 314. The LIDAR assembly 300 may also include a printedcircuit board 303. As with the printed circuit board 203 depicted inFIG. 2 , the printed circuit board 303 may not depict any electroniccomponents, but include any electronic components associated with theLIDAR system. The same may apply to any other printed circuit boarddepicted and/or described herein. As described above with respect to theLIDAR assembly 200, the first portion 304 may be a stator of the LIDARassembly 300. That is, the first portion 304 may be a portion of theLIDAR assembly 300 that may remain fixed relative to other portions ofthe LIDAR assembly 300. Likewise, the second portion 302 may be a rotorof the LIDAR assembly 300. That is, the second portion 302 may be aportion of the LIDAR assembly 300 that may rotate relative to otherportions of the LIDAR assembly 300, such as the first portion 304 (forexample, the stator).

Through the cross-section view it may be illustrated that the firstportion 304 of the LIDAR assembly 300 may further include one or moremagnets 308. The one or more magnets 308 may be provided on the firstportion 304 in a circular arrangement and may be permanently orremovably affixed to the first portion 304. The one or more magnets 308may be arranged around a circumference of the first portion 304 suchthat elements of the second portion 302, such as the windings 306, maybe provided adjacent to the one or more magnets 308, but located closerto a center point of the LIDAR assembly 300. The one or more magnets 308may also be arranged such that they may be positioned in line with theone or more magnetic field sensors 312 included on the second portion302 of the LIDAR assembly 300.

The cross-section view of the LIDAR assembly 300 may also illustratethat the second portion 302 may include one or more windings 306. Insome embodiments, the one or more windings 306 may be arranged moreinternally than the one or more magnets 308 provided on the firstportion 304 of the LIDAR assembly 300. The one or more windings 306 maybe used to interact with the one or more magnets 308 to produce arotation of the second portion 302 of the LIDAR assembly 300 relative tothe first portion 304 of the LIDAR assembly 300. That is, the LIDARassembly 300 may operate by providing a current to the one or morewindings 306 on the second portion 302 of the LIDAR assembly 300. Thecurrent may cause the one or more windings 306 to produce acorresponding magnetic field, which may interact with the magneticfields produced by the one or more magnets 308. This interaction maycause a rotation of the second portion 302 of the LIDAR assembly 300relative to the first portion 304. However, this is merely one exampleof a mechanism by which the rotation of the second portion 302 of theLIDAR assembly 300 may be produced.

FIG. 4 depicts another exemplary cross-section view illustration of acenter portion of LIDAR assembly 300. Again, first portion 304 may befixed whereas second portion 302 may be rotatable. A center shaft 320may be positioned and extend between the first portion 304 and secondportion 302. A first antenna array circuit 322 may be positioned aroundcenter shaft 320 and may be affixed to the first portion. It iscontemplated the first antenna array 322 may be affixed to the centershaft 320 using an adhesive or securing mechanism (e.g., screw). Thefirst antenna array 322 may be affixed such that it does not rotate inconjunction with the second portion 302.

It is further contemplated that a second antenna array 324 may furtherbe positioned above or below the first antenna array 322. For instance,FIG. 4 illustrates the second antenna array 324 being positioned abovefirst antenna array 322. The second antenna array 324 may further beaffixed to the center shaft 320 or second portion 302. It iscontemplated that when attached to the center shaft 320 or secondportion 302, the second antenna array 324 may be rotatable in relationto the fixed first antenna array 322.

FIGS. 5 and 6 provide exemplary illustrations of the first antenna array322 and the second antenna array 324 discussed with respect to FIG. 4 .As illustrated, the first antenna array 322 may include a plurality ofstatic antennas 326-332. Similarly, the second antenna array 324 mayalso include a plurality of rotating antennas 334-340. It iscontemplated the plurality of static antennas 326-332 and the pluralityof rotating antennas 334-340 generate a horizontally polarized quarterwave monopole array that provides data to be transferred between thefirst antenna array 322 and second antenna array 324.

FIG. 7 further depicts the affixed (i.e., non-rotatable) first antennaarray 322 situated below the second antenna array 324. FIG. 7illustrates a gap may exist between the first antenna array 322 and thesecond antenna array 324. Again, the second antenna array 324 may beattached and be rotated by the center shaft 320. As such, the secondantenna array 324 may operably rotate 360-degrees in relation to thefirst antenna array 322. It is also contemplated an electrically sealedcavity 326 may be included to enclose the cavity currents that originateon the center shaft by the rotating antennas 334-340 and travel to thestatic antennas 326-332 during operation. The electrically sealed cavity326 may be constructed using a static housing and bearings that allowcenter shaft 320 and second antenna array 324 to rotate.

FIGS. 8 and 9 are further exemplary illustrations of the first antennaarray 322 and the second antenna array 324 during operation. FIG. 8 .Illustrates the plurality of static antennas 326-332 in-line with theplurality of rotating antennas 334-340. It is contemplated that when thestatic antennas 326-332 are in-line with the plurality of rotatingantennas 334-340 there may only be a 3 dB peak-to-peak variation in thefrequency between the first antenna array 322 and the second antennaarray 324. FIG. 8 . Illustrates the plurality of static antennas 326-332at a 45-degree rotation in relation to the plurality of rotatingantennas 334-340. When the static antennas 326-332 are at a 45-degreerotation in relation to the plurality of rotating antennas 334-340 theremay only be a 2.5 dB peak-to-peak variation in the frequency between thefirst antenna array 322 and the second antenna array 324. It iscontemplated that peak-to-peak variations greater than 6 dB may notallow suitable data transfer (i.e., upload and download) between thefirst antenna array 322 and the second antenna array 324. Instead,peak-to-peak variations would preferably be maintained below 4 dB.

It is also contemplated non-contacting ground connections may beemployed to shunt the cavity currents from the bearing assemblies usedto allow rotation of the center shaft 320. For instance, FIG. 10illustrates the non-contacting ground connections being formed using aplurality of resistive elements 1002-1008. As illustrated, the resistiveelements 1002-1008 may be constructed in a parallel to shunt the currentfrom the bearings. It is contemplated the net parallel impedance of theresistive elements 1002-1008 between static ground and the rotatingground may be operably between 8 ohms and 3 ohms. It is alsocontemplated the non-contact ground connections on the first portion 304(i.e., static portion) may be assembled using a flex cable and thenon-contact ground connections on the second portion 302 (i.e., rotatingportion) may be connected using a coaxial cable. The connections maypermit a 6-7 dB that provides a variation with the shaft angle.

FIG. 12 illustrates a block diagram of the first antenna array 322(i.e., stationary antenna array) and the second antenna array 324 (i.e.,rotating antenna array). Again, the first antenna array 322 (i.e.,stationary antenna array) and the second antenna array 324 may beoperable to provide a bi-directional communication link. The link isoperable to allow data and information to be transmitted or downloadedfrom the second antenna array 324 to the first antenna array 322. Or thelink is operable to allow data and information to be transmitted oruploaded from the first antenna array 322 to the second antenna array324. Uploaded data/information may include software updates, parametersor settings used within processor(s), memory, or sensor units locatedwithin portion 302. Downloaded data/information may include dataacquired relating to objects surrounding the LIDAR system.

As illustrated, the first antenna array 322 may be operable to transmitor upload data to the second antenna array 324 at a speed of 10-50 Mbps.The upload data may be received by the first antenna array 322 at acomparator module 1010. A mixer circuit 1014 may mix the incoming datafrom comparator with a L.O. frequency driver 1012 (e.g., 4 GHz). Themixer 1014 may then provide the mixed data to an amplifier circuit 1016which is then passed through a diplexer circuit that includes a low passfilter 1018. As illustrated the low pass filter 1018 may be operating at4 GHz. The upload data is then transmitted (i.e., uploaded) to thesecond antenna array 324. Once received, the upload data is providedthrough low pass filter 1020 to amplifier 1022, and then to a detectorcircuit 1024. Lastly, the upload data is provided to a comparator 1026that may operate at same speed as comparator 1010 (e.g., 10 Mbps).

Conversely, download data may be transmitted at speeds of 1 Gbps (i.e.,8 GHz). The download data may be received by the second antenna array324 at a comparator module 1028. A mixer circuit 1032 may mix theincoming data from comparator with a L.O. frequency driver 1030 (e.g., 4GHz). The mixer 1032 may then provide the mixed data to an amplifiercircuit 1034 which is then passed through a diplexer circuit thatincludes a high pass filter 1036. As illustrated the high pass filter1036 may be operating at 8 GHz. The download data is then transmitted(i.e., downloaded) to the first antenna array 322. Once received, thedownload data is provided through high pass filter 1038 to amplifiercircuit 1040, and to detector circuit 1042. Lastly, the download data isprovided to a comparator 1044 that may operate at same speed ascomparator 1028 (e.g., 1 Gbps).

FIG. 12 illustrates an alternative embodiment where an opticalbi-directional optical data link 1100 may be used to transmitelectrically encoded data optically between the first portion 304 (i.e.,static portion) and the second portion 302 (i.e., rotating portion). Itis contemplated, the optical data link 1100 may be used together withthe first antenna array 322 and second antenna array 224. Or, theoptical data link 1100 may be used in place of the first antenna array322 and second antenna array 224. As illustrated, the center shaft 320may be constructed to include a free-space aperture (e.g., hollowportion) through the middle of the center shaft thereby allowing datatransfer by light transmission between a first optical transceiver 1102and a second optical transceiver 1104. It is contemplated the free-spaceaperture may be constructed along the axis of rotation of the centershaft 320.

As illustrated the shaft 320 may be included within the second portion302 and may be connected to a rotating printed circuit board (PCBA)operable to transmit and receive data optically using opticaltransceiver 1102. A stationary PCBA 1106 may be included within firstportion 302 and may be connected to the second optical transceiver 1104.One or more bearing assemblies 1110, 1112 may further be connected andoperably allow center shaft 320 to rotate.

FIG. 13 is another exemplary block diagram of the bidirectional dataoptical data link 1100 used to transmit electrically encoded dataoptically between the first portion 304 (i.e., static portion) and thesecond portion 302 (i.e., rotating portion). Again, a rotating printedcircuit board (PCBA) 1108 may operably transmit and receive dataoptically using optical transceiver 1102. A stationary PCBA 1106 may beincluded within first portion 302 and may be connected to the secondoptical transceiver 1104. As further illustrated, transceiver 1104 andtransceiver 1102 may include both a transmitter and receiver operable totransmit and receive optical signals along a rotation boundary withinthe center shaft 320.

It is contemplated the PCBA 1108, 1106 may designed using an FPGAoperable to receive and transmit differential electrical signals (e.g.,LVDS, CML). It is also contemplated optical data transfer may beinsensitive to the relative angular rotation between the first opticaltransceiver 1102 and the second optical transceiver 1104. The basebandelectrical signal may also be converted into an optical pulse train fortransfer across the rotating boundary of the center shaft 320. Thebaseband electrical signal may also be operable to encode the data to betransferred. Upon receiving an optical pulse train, transceiver 1102 ortransceiver 1104 may convert the pulse train into an electrical signalwhich encodes the data to be transferred. Transceiver 1102 andtransceiver 1104 may also be operable to simultaneously transfer data inboth directions on axis from either transceiver 1104 or transceiver1102. For instance, transceiver 1102, 1104 may be designed using aBroadcom AFBR-FS13B25 optical transceiver.

The PCBA 1106 or 1108 may also provide direction connections at eachend-point using known hardware, electrical, and protocol interfaces. Themechanical mounting of each transceiver 1102, 1104 may be designed tomaintain optical alignment along the rotational boundary axis to helpaid in precluding contamination (e.g., dust, dirt, etc.) of the opticalsurfaces. Lastly, it is contemplated the bidirectional data optical datalink 1100 may be advantageous as it is less susceptible toelectro-mechanical (EM) interference.

FIG. 14 is an exemplary exploded view of the LIDAR assembly 300discussed with reference to FIG. 3 above. As illustrated an upperbearing flange 1302 and lower bearing flange 1314 may be used to attachbearing seal 1304 and bearing seal 1312 to a pair of tapered rollerbearings 1306, 1314. Flange 1302, 1314 may also be operable to stabilizeand maintain center shaft 320 within the LIDAR assembly 300. Rollerbearings 1306, 1314 /may also allow upper portion 302 and center shaft320 to rotate smoothly.

Aspects of the present embodiments may be embodied as a system, methodor computer program product. Accordingly, aspects of the presentdisclosure may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, anentirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software,micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardwareaspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “module” or“system.” Furthermore, aspects of the present disclosure may take theform of a computer program product embodied in one or more computerreadable mediums having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable mediums may beutilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signalmedium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readablestorage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic,magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system,apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Morespecific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readablestorage medium include the following: an electrical connection havingone or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a randomaccess memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmableread-only memory (erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) orFlash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-onlymemory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device,or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of thisdocument, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible mediumthat can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Aspects of the present disclosure are described above with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of thedisclosure. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, enable the implementation of the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. Such processors maybe, without limitation, general purpose processors, special-purposeprocessors, application-specific processors, or field-programmable.

It is to be appreciated that the Detailed Description section, and notany other section, is intended to be used to interpret the claims. Othersections can set forth one or more but not all exemplary embodiments ascontemplated by the inventor(s), and thus, are not intended to limitthis disclosure or the appended claims in any way.

While this disclosure describes exemplary embodiments for exemplaryfields and applications, it should be understood that the disclosure isnot limited thereto. Other embodiments and modifications thereto arepossible, and are within the scope and spirit of this disclosure. Forexample, and without limiting the generality of this paragraph,embodiments are not limited to the software, hardware, firmware, and/orentities illustrated in the figures and/or described herein. Further,embodiments (whether or not explicitly described herein) havesignificant utility to fields and applications beyond the examplesdescribed herein.

References herein to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an exampleembodiment,” or similar phrases, indicate that the embodiment describedcan include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, butevery embodiment can not necessarily include the particular feature,structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarilyreferring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature,structure, or characteristic is described in connection with anembodiment, it would be within the knowledge of persons skilled in therelevant art(s) to incorporate such feature, structure, orcharacteristic into other embodiments whether or not explicitlymentioned or described herein. Additionally, some embodiments can bedescribed using the expression “coupled” and “connected” along withtheir derivatives. These terms are not necessarily intended as synonymsfor each other. For example, some embodiments can be described using theterms “connected” and/or “coupled” to indicate that two or more elementsare in direct physical or electrical contact with each other. The term“coupled,” however, can also mean that two or more elements are not indirect contact with each other, but yet still co-operate or interactwith each other.

The breadth and scope of this disclosure should not be limited by any ofthe above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only inaccordance with the following claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for providing a bi-directional data linkwithin a LIDAR assembly, comprising: a stationary portion for attachingto an autonomous vehicle and a second portion rotatable in relation tothe stationary portion, wherein the second portion includes one or moreemitting devices and receiving devices for detecting objects surroundingthe autonomous vehicle; a first printed circuit board including a firstset of trace antennas located within the stationary portion; and asecond printed circuit board including a second set of trace antennaslocated within the second portion, wherein the first printed circuitboard is configured to rotate in relation to the second printed circuitboard so that the first set of trace antennas and the second set oftrace antennas align to provide the bi-directional data link.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1, further comprising: a shaft located at a central axiswithin the LIDAR assembly and connected to the first printed circuitboard, wherein the shaft rotates the first printed circuit board inrelation to the second printed circuit board.
 3. The system of claim 2,wherein the shaft is connected to the second portion, and the shaftrotates when the second portion rotates in relation to the stationaryportion.
 4. The system of claim 2, wherein the first printed circuitboard and the second printed circuit board are located within anelectrically sealed cavity that is configured to enclose one or morecavity currents originating on the shaft from the first set of traceantennas and the second set of trace antennas.
 5. The system of claim 4,wherein a first bearing is connected to the shaft and a top side of theelectrically sealed cavity and a second bearing is connected to theshaft and a bottom side of the electrically sealed cavity, wherein thefirst bearing and the second bearing permit the shaft and the firstprinted circuit board to rotate while the electrically sealed cavity andthe second printed circuit board remain stationary.
 6. The system ofclaim 5, wherein a non-contacting ground circuit is configured to shuntthe one or more cavity currents from the first bearing and the secondbearing.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the non-contacting groundcircuit comprises a plurality of resistive elements constructed in aparallel arrangement.
 8. The system of claim 7, wherein a net parallelimpedance of the plurality of resistive elements between a static groundand a rotating ground is less than 8 ohms and greater than 2 ohms. 9.The system of claim 6, wherein the non-contacting ground circuit isconnected to both the second portion and the stationary portion.
 10. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the first set of trace antennas and thesecond set of trace antennas align to provide a horizontally polarizedquarter wave monopole array to provide the bi-directional data link. 11.The system of claim 1, wherein the first set of trace antennas and thesecond set of trace antennas are configured to align to provide apeak-to-peak frequency that is less than 6 dB.
 12. The system of claim1, further comprising: an upload comparator electrically connected tothe first printed circuit board, wherein the upload comparator isconfigured to receive upload data transmitted to the first set of traceantennas from the second set of trace antennas; an upload mixer circuitto mix the upload data using a local oscillator frequency driver; anupload amplifier circuit to amplify the upload data; and an uploaddiplexer circuit to filter the upload data using a low pass filter. 13.The system of claim 12, wherein the local oscillator frequency driveroperates approximately at a frequency of 4 GHz.
 14. The system of claim1, further comprising: a download comparator electrically connected tothe second printed circuit board, the download comparator is configuredto receive download data transmitted to the second set of trace antennasfrom the first set of trace antennas; a download mixer circuit to mixthe download data using a local oscillator (LO) frequency driver; adownload amplifier circuit to amplify the download data; and a downloaddiplexer circuit to filter the download data using a high pass filter.15. The system of claim 14, wherein the local oscillator frequencydriver operates approximately at a frequency of 4 GHz.
 16. A method forproviding a bi-directional data link within a LIDAR assembly,comprising: rotating a second portion relative to a stationary portion,wherein the stationary portion is adapted to attach to an autonomousvehicle, detecting objects surrounding the autonomous vehicle using oneor more emitting devices and receiving devices located within the secondportion; and rotating a first printed circuit board having a first setof trace antennas in relation to a second printed circuit board having asecond set of trace antennas so that the first set of trace antennas andthe second set of trace antennas align to provide the bi-directionaldata link.
 17. A system for providing a bi-directional data link withina LIDAR assembly, comprising: a first printed circuit board including afirst set of trace antennas; a second printed circuit board including asecond set of trace antennas; and a shaft positioned near a central axiswithin the LIDAR assembly, the shaft being connected to the firstprinted circuit board, and the LIDAR assembly being configured to turnthe shaft so that the first printed circuit board rotates in relation tothe second printed circuit board so that the first set of trace antennasand the second set of trace antennas align to provide the bi-directionaldata link.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein the first set of traceantennas and the second set of trace antennas align to provide ahorizontally polarized quarter wave monopole array to provide thebi-directional data link.
 19. The system of claim 17, wherein the firstprinted circuit board and the second printed circuit board are locatedwithin an electrically sealed cavity that is configured to enclose oneor more cavity currents originating on the shaft from the first set oftrace antennas and the second set of trace antennas.
 20. The system ofclaim 19, wherein a first bearing is connected to the shaft and a topside of the electrically sealed cavity and a second bearing is connectedto the shaft and a bottom side of the electrically sealed cavity,wherein the first bearing and the second bearing permit the shaft andthe first printed circuit board to rotate while the electrically sealedcavity and the second printed circuit board remain stationary, andwherein a non-contacting ground circuit is configured to shunt the oneor more cavity currents from the first bearing and the second bearing.